Bill Nelson

Clarence William "Bill" Nelson II (29 September 1942-) was a US Senator from Florida (D) from 3 January 2001, succeeding Connie Mack III. He previously served as a member of the US House of Representatives from Florida's 11th congressional district from 3 January 1979 to 3 January 1991, succeeding Louis Frey Jr. and preceding Jim Bacchus.

Biography
Clarence William Nelson II was born in Miami, Florida on 29 September 1942. Both of his had parents died by the time that he was 24, and he attended the University of Florida, Yale University, and the University of Virginia, earning a law degree. He joined the US Army reserve in 1965 and served on active duty from 1968 to 1970, leaving the army in 1971 with the rank of Captain. In 1971, he worked as a legislative assistant to Governor Reubin Askew, and he was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1972. In 1978, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, and he took part in a 1968 NASA spaceflight as a payload specialist, staying in space for a week; he was the second congressman and the first representative to go into space.

In 1994, Nelson was elected Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshal of Florida, and he resigned in 2000 to run for Connie Mack III's US Senate seat. He defeated Republican Party challenger Bill McCollum, and Nelson portrayed himself as a bipartisan centrist problem-solver. Nelson voted to reduce or eliminate the estate tax, supported the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" torture methods, supported Obamacare, favored the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", changed his views to support gay marriage, voted to extend tax cuts for the non-wealthy, supported bans on assault weapons and magazines of over ten rounds, supported insurance rate hikes for homes at risk of flooding, and toiled to restore the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill.